Not many games have a two-thousand-year run of popularity, but somehow the classic family board game Sorry!, a variant of the ancient Indian game Pachisi, has managed to remain in publication since its 1929 inception.
The Story of Sorry
Derived from Pachisi, an ancient Indian game speculated to have existed since the 2nd or 3rd century B.C., William Henry Storey patented The Fashionable English Game: Sorry! in Southend-on-Sea, England in 1929. The game soon made its way to the U.S. and Canada where it enjoyed growing popularity before being purchased in 1933 by Parker Brothers (which was eventually acquired by Hasbro). It continues to be published to this day, with an updated version being released in 2016. In that time numerous variations and branded editions have been released, including Pokemon and Simpsons versions, as well as 2013’s Fire and Ice edition, which incorporated new cards and rules.
The premise of the game is simple enough: players begin with their color-coded pieces in a designated home space, drawing cards until obtaining and 1, 2, or Sorry card, which allows a single piece to be moved into play on the track leading to a player’s designated final space. The first player to move all of their pieces to the final space wins. During play, players may choose to move any pieces on the track utilizing their drawn cards. If one player’s piece ends its movement in a space occupied by another player, that player’s piece is returned to its home space and must begin again.
Why is Sorry! Still Popular?
While rudimentary in structure, the game does allow for some strategy and often plays out with major upsets toward the end of play. It’s also a quick-play game, with the rules being easy to pick up and sessions taking less than an hour. This, combined with its accessibility to a broad range of ages (children 6 years and older), makes it ideal for family play.
Variations on a Theme
Over the years there have been a broad range of editions, versions, and variants. These include an adult-themed version Sorry! Not Sorry! that incorporated a have you ever confessional mechanic, and Sorry! Express, a dice-dependent version later rebranded as Sorry! Diced!. The 1939 edition of the game included an alternate set of rules known as Point-Scoring Sorry!, that had players holding a hand of five cards, selecting one to play each turn, and replenishing their hand. The aforementioned Fire and Ice edition introduced elemental cards that would speed up or slow down players’ actions.
A 1996 electronic hand-held version and a 1998 computer-based version attempted to update the game for a new generation, though these efforts were short-lived. Despite this, it seems likely that Sorry! isn’t going anyway, and will continue to irk children and adults for years to come.
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